The present disclosure relates to thermal relief automation. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to generating customized thermal relief patterns that create voids in a conductive plane around thru pin locations to improve component pin solderability.
Wave soldering is a large-scale soldering process that solders electronic components on a printed circuit board (PCB) to form an electronic assembly. The components are inserted into or placed on the printed circuit board and the loaded printed circuit board is passed across a pumped wave or waterfall of solder. The solder wets the exposed metallic areas of the board (those not protected with a solder mask), creating a reliable mechanical and electrical connection.
Manufacturers monitor wave flow soldering temperatures to ensure reliable solder joints throughout the printed circuit board. Printed circuit boards include “power thru pin holes” to provide power to the electronic components, which are holes in the printed circuit board that couple to a printed circuit board's power plane layer at “power plane thru pin locations.” The power plane layer utilizes a “plane” of electrically conductive material (e.g., copper) to provide a power source to the electronic components on the printed circuit board. Printed circuit boards may include multiple power planes in order to provide multiple voltage levels to the electronic components, such as a +12 Volt power plane, a −12 Volt power plane, a +5 Volt power plane, and a Ground plane.